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Top 10 Prehistoric Fish
By Cougarcat Note: This is a Top Ten List, the way the list is arranged is purely opinion. You may not agree with the way the list is organized, however if you made your own than other people would not necessarily agree with your opinion either. So opinion is honored on these lists. Do not duplicate lists, however you can go ahead and make your own about something else. Just remember, you aren't allowed to edit these because the creator may have different opinions than you. The fish of the past were incredibly diverse. They were the origins of mammals, dinosaurs, reptiles, and all vertebrates. Because of this, we made a list of what we thought were the ten most significant, highest up their food chains, most specialized, most adaptable, and longest lasting fish ever. Please note, there are no sharks on this list. There will probably be another list about sharks in the future. 10th- Hyneria Hyneria was a prehistoric Lobe Finned Fish from the Devonian Period. Although there were larger predatory Lobe Finned Fish later, during Hyneria's time it was the top of the food chain. It probably weighed up to two tonnes based of its length of around 5 meters. It could have fed on Prehistoric Freshwater Sharks or amphibians that were related to Lobe Finned Fish. The Lobe Finned fish are distant ancestors of amphibians, as they are often called tetrapodomorphic. They would eventually change from having lobed fins to having legs. ] ] ] ] ] ] 9th- Megapiranha Although the idea of a meter long Piranha is terrifying, it was not necessarily that high up the food chain. Although all modern piranhas are many times smaller than Megapiranha, the Miocene species did not necessarily hunt in packs. The pack hunter is the Red Bellied Piranha, however the much larger Black Piranha is solitary. If today's largest Piranhas are solitary, than there is no telling that Megapiranha was not since only a jaw set was recovered. Although a pack of meter long piranhas would be up there with the scariest animals of all time, at this point it is impossible to bump Megapiranha any farther up the list than 9th place. ] ] ] ] ] 8th- Onchopristis Onchopristis was a huge sawfish from Cretaceous Africa. It scores very well on food chain position because even the smaller Largetooth Sawfish is the top of its food chain. However, Onchopristis cannot be at the very top because of its predator, Spinosaurus. Spinosaurus could attack Onchopristis as it entered freshwater to spawn. This freshwater was also an environment prone to die out, and as it did the Onchopristis died out with it. And because of this, Onchopristis is marked down in Adaptability and Time not extinct. Significance is average, putting Onchopristis at number eight. ] ] ] ] ] ] 7th- Xiphactinus The Sailfish is the largest fish alive today, and can travel at close to 70 miles per hour! However, the prehistoric Xiphactinus was even faster, despite a weight of a tonne. With a maximum size of 6 meters, Xiphactinus is one of the very largest fast fish. It was like a modern Tarpon, a fish that can travel at around 25 miles per hour, still an extremely fast speed. Xiphactinus needed this level of specialization, because the prey fish were fast. However, the more specialized animals tend to be the first to die out. Xiphactinus was around for a relatively short period. This lowers both adaptability and time not extinct. Another reason why Xiphactinus will not be able to get past 7th spot is because it was not at the very top of the food chain. Large Mosasaurs like Mosasaurus and Tylosaurus could easily make a meal out of Xiphactinus. That is why Xiphactinus fails to score top points on food chain position. Still, Xiphactinus has came to a respectable 7th place on this list. 6th- Leedsichthys Although very large Leedsichthys could reach 16 meters or larger in length, when it comes to average size Leesichthys was much smaller than the second largest fish ever, C. megalodon. Leedsichthys is often credited as the largest fish ever, however this is based off the 16 meter max, not the 9-10 meter average. Leedsichthys did have its defense mechanisms. It was around 50 tonnes (for a 16 meter one), and there was no predator in the ocean that could attack a healthy one. Predator X was not 15 meters long as the initial exaggerated reports said it was. Instead, it was more like 10 meters long. Liopleurodon was only 6 meters long, so it probably wasn't a threat to Leedsichthys. That is why Leedsichthys gets 5 points on Food chain position, because no one would attack a large one. Because of these reasons, it makes perfect sense to put Leedsichthys on this list, and this high or higher. ] ] ] 5th- Leptolepis Leptolepis may look normal, but this 12 inch long fish has 100% right to this list. This is because it was the first bony fish. "Bony fish" means ray finned fish, and altnough Dunkleosteus was pretty darn bony, not in the sense that it was ray finned like Leptolepis. Ray finned fish are now the most common of all fish, and Leptolepis has not died out. It changed over time into the very large ray finned fish like Leedsichthys and Mola Mola. It also lasted incredibly long before changing, from the Triassic to Cretaceous. With such success, it is clear that Leptolepis deserves a place this high on this list. ] ] ] ] ] 4th- Haikouichthys Whereas Leptolepis was the first ray finned fish, Haikouichthys was the first chordate. Take a second to imagine the world without Haikouichthys. There would have been no dinosaurs, no reptiles, no mammals, and in this case most significantly, no fish. In terms of Significance, a score of over 10 is necessary. However, it is because of its small size it has to score low on its Cambrian Food Chain Position. However, for its time it was extremely Specialized and Adaptable. It is not extinct yet, every Chordate today still carries its genes, and if you aren't a robot than that includes you. Haikouichthys is the oldest fish on this list, since it is the oldest fish period. It dates back to the Cambrian Period, over 500,000,000 years ago. ] ] ] 3rd- Rhizodus Of all the freshwater fish, Rhizodus was the largest ever. It grew to the size of a killer whale, and potentially had an even more powerful bite than Tyrannosaurus rex, the animal with the greatest bite of any land organism ever. Rhizodus may have had up to twice the biting power. It was highly successful, turning up in North America as well as Scotland. It lasted around 30 million years as well. A list of Prehistoric Fish would be absurd without Rhizodus. As the largest freshwater fish, and potentially among the most powerful prehistoric fish ever, this genus clearly earns a place on this list. Its exceptional size earns it points in significance, while it was at the very top of its food chain. It was also highly specialized and adaptable. Lasting for around 30 million years, it scores points in the time not extinct category too. ] ] ] ] 2nd- Dunkleosteus Of all the non shark fish of all time, the mightiest bite belonged to Dunkleosteus. At around 8,000 pounds per square inch, this bite was pretty much unheard of. This Devonian fish was an absolute apex predator, and it was pretty armored too. Just about nothing could get through the thick armor plating, and the rest of its body may have had some defenses as well. The whole fish was immense, between 6 and 10 meters long. Dunkleosteus was a placoderm fish, a type that is now extinct. Although Sturgeon and Arapaima are also armored, they are not related to Dunkleosteus. Dunkleosteus is on this list for several reasons. It was highly significant, since it had the highest bite force of any bony... how about we re-word that, how about of any fish that wan't a shark. It was also the absolute top of its food chain. With its defense, it was also highly specialized. Lasting from 380 to 360 million years ago, it was relatively adaptable. This was also a fair amount of time not extinct, so Dunkleosteus easily makes it onto this list, and we thought it deserved to come in at second spot. 1st- Coelacanth First, let's clarify that the term "Coelacanth" refers to any fish within the order "Coelacanthiformes", and not just a single genus or even species, as is sometimes incorrectly assumed. Coelacanths are old, after Haikouichthys, the oldest fish on our list. They date back to the Early Devonian, about 409 million years ago. However, they adapted to many different environments and lifestyles. For example, the largest genus, Mawsonia, was apparently toothless, and lived in freshwater. These genre give us unprecedented information into these amazing fish. After surviving the great Permian-Triassic extinction, and then the whole Mesozoic, they disappear from the fossil record during the KT extinction. However, off the coast of Africa, a living Coelacanth was caught in 1938. Since then, they have become some of the most famous prehistoric fish, and with more research done, have shown us not an order that has retained an original form for 400 million years, but rather a body plan that has been tweaked time and time again so as to adapt itself to an ever changing planet. Category:Cenozoic Category:Paleozoic Category:Mesozoic Category:Top Ten Lists Category:Fish Category:Lobe Finned Fish Category:Predator Category:Bony Fish Category:Cambrian Category:Devonian Category:Carboniferous Category:Triassic Category:Jurassic Category:Cretaceous Category:Miocene Category:Water